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Copyright,  1921 

By 

The  Womans  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


i&xttk  PrtnrF  t^aa  a 
“Jl?aua  Sirt^ay” 

Condensed  by  Sue  Hopkins 


interesting  incident  written  by 
Miss  M.  L.  Guthapfel  in  her  story 
“Only  a Prince  of  Korea,"  is  worth 
repeating.  And  owing  to  the  coming  mar- 
riage of  the  Prince  and  his  recent  visit  to 
Seoul,  it  will  be  read  with  more  than  the 
usual  interest  in  princely  doings. 


The  little  prince,  when  nine  years  old, 
was  very  much  out  of  touch  with  things 
Korean  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  December. 


Against  the  wishes  of  his  “personal 
guard,”  he  climbed  the  wall  of  the  palace, 
called  the  gateman  of  the  next  compound. 


and  Had  Him  call  out  tHe  missionary  to 
talk  with  Him.  He  asked  Her  about  the 
“Yea-su  Tan-il,”  or  Jesus'  Birthday.  She 
told  Him  what  it  was,  and  invited  Him  to 
go  next  day  to  the  Chong  No  Church  and 
find  out  all  about  it  for  Himself. 

But  His  face  clouded  as  he  exclaimed, 
“Not  I,  I am  only  a prince;  I am  not  like 
the  other  boys  of  my  country;  I cannot  go 
out  of  the  palace  gates  now  even  so  far  as 
I used  to  go.  But  tell  me,  can  you  not  get 
one  of  the  'Jesus  Birthdays'  and  bring  it 
to  me  here  in  your  room?  Look,"  he  said, 
as  he  ran  along  the  wall  to  a place  opposite 
her  window,  “look,  I can  see  down  in  there 
if  you  will  open  your  window,  “look,  I can 
see  down  in  there  if  you  will  open  your  win- 
dow  wide,  and  if  you  will  put  a 'Jesus 
Birthday'  in  there  to-morrow,  I can  have 
one,  too,  while  I stand  here.  Oh,  please, 
lady;  I am  a prince,  and  never  had  a ‘J  es  us 
Birthday.’  Give  me  one,  lady,  please  do.” 


Startled  by  tbe  request  the  missionary 
thought  lor  a moment,  then  with  the  plead- 
ing brown  eyes  looking  into  hers,  she  said: 
"Oh,  I don’t  see  how  I can  do  that.  It  is 
too  cold  for  you  to  stand  there.  Your 
mother  would  not  like  you  to.  You  might 
get  sick  and  besides  I have  nothing  with 
which  to  make  a 'Jesus  Birthday.’  It 
needs  a congregation,  and  then — .” 

“Oh,  that's  all  right,"  said  this  deter- 
mined young  man,  "here  s your  congrega- 
tion,” and  majestically  raising  his  hands 
he  took  in  the  three  half-frozen  male  at- 
tendants and  the  three  women,  whose  un- 
happy, scowling  faces  looked  very  unlike 
the  "Jesus  congregation”  of  the  church 
across  the  way.  But  the  boyish  voice  went 
on  in  pleading  tones,  “Lady  listen,  I ve 
never  had  a ‘Jesus  Birthday’  in  my  whole 
life  and  if  you  don’t  make  me  one  tomor- 
row I may  never  have  one,  for  I'm  only  a 
little  prince  and  I want  one  'Jesus  Birth- 


day’  like  other  boys.”  The  missionary 
yielded,  saying,  “Ah,  your  majesty,  I shall 
try  to  do  something  tomorrow,  although  I 
have  little  to  do  with  I fear.”  As  she 
turned  away  the  boy  said,  “Lady,  I heard 
that  you  have  a pine  tree  with  funny  fruit 
on  it,  fruit  that  comes  from  America. 
You’ll  get  the  fruit  for  my  ‘Jesus  Birthday' 
and  I'll  have  my  servants  get  the  tree.” 

“Very  well,”  laughed  the  lady,  “I'll  do 
my  best.  . . . Goodbye  then,  till  tomorrow.” 

She  hurried  into  the  house  while  the 
prince  with  a happy  face  sauntered  back  to 
his  apartments  to  think  it  out,  while  the 
disgusted,  newly-made,  unwilling  congrega- 
tion turned  to  their  various  duties  of  sit- 
ting around  waiting  for  the  young  master's 
call.  Sadly  they  shook  their  heads  as  they 
talked  together  in  whispers,  squatting  on 
the  handsome  floor  rugs  just  outside  the 
room  the  boy  had  entered. 


What  new  freak  is  this?  He,  a prince 
of  Korea,  holding  conversation  with  a 
Christian?  His  only  religious  duty  should 
be  worshipping  at  the  temples,  as  did  their 
forefathers.  Would  not  the  gods  be  of- 
fended and  dire  calamity  visit  the  palace? 
“Eigo!  Eigo!"  they  wailed.  “What  a fool- 
ish child  but  who  would  stop  him  but  the 
royal  mother  and  who  would  take  the  task 
of  telling  her?” 

But  let  us  leave  them  to  their  misery 
and  hasten  on  with  Time  to  the  next  morn- 
ing just  at  daybreak.  It  was  bitter  cold. 
Across  the  eastern  gate  the  new  day  strug- 
gled to  arouse  itself  from  the  slumbers  of 
the  night.  The  palace  door  opens,  a small 
boy  steps  forth  softly  ordering  here  and 
there  the  officials  who  follow  shivering.  . . . 

A thump  on  the  missionary's  door  by  one 
official  called  her  from  dreamland.  “What 
is  it?"  she  asked. 


A scared  voice  answered,  “Oh,  Pou-in, 
the  prince  and  the  officials  are  at  the  wall, 
and  he  says  he  wants  his  'Jesus  Birthday' 
right  away/' 

The  Pou-in  arose,  dressed  hurriedly  and 
found  at  the  wall  the  prince  and  his  “con- 
gregation.” It  was  just  light  enough  to  see 
their  faces,  the  boy's  bright  and  eager,  the 
attendants'  cross  and  blue  with  the  cold. 
“My,”  thought  the  lady,  “I  hope  the  faces 
will  not  freeze;  they’ll  be  very  ugly  if  they 
do.” 

The  boy  seeing  her,  said  quickly  and  all 
in  a breath,  “Oh,  Pou-in,  here  we  are  and 
there  are  trees,  two  of  them,  please  Pou- 
in,  give  me  the  'Jesus  Birthday'  now.” 

“Ah,  no,  little  prince,  I cannot  do  that, 
you  must  wait.  I was  up  until  midnight 
getting  the  'Jesus  Birthday’  ready  for  my 
pupils  and  I had  no  time  to  find  the  funny 
fruit  you  want  on  the  trees.  I must  go  to 


the  stores  in  'Jap  town'  and  see  if  there  is 
some  to  be  bought.  You  must  come  back 
here  today  when  the  sun  is  right  overhead. 
It  will  be  noon  then,  and  warmer.  I will 
see  what  I can  do  during  the  morning. 
She  smilingly  instructed  the  gateman  to 
pick  up  the  two  four-foot  high  trees  the 
officials  had  tossed  angrily  over  the  wall 
and  to  carry  them  into  the  house.  Reluc- 
tantly, yet  with  the  eager  look  still  on  his 
face,  the  boy  turned  away  with  a “Thank 
you  lady." 

An  hour's  search  produced  but  four 
American  tinsel  ornaments  and  one  precious 
package  of  colored  Christmas  tree  candles 
and  holders.  A few  more  ornaments  were 
secured  by  a hurried  search  in  the  store- 
room, some  oranges  and  persimmons,  tied 
with  stray  bits  of  ribbon  and  the  fruit  of 
the  tree  was  ready.  Then  a still  scared 
gateman  placed  the  green  trees  in  old 
flower-pots  packed  with  snow,  set  them  on  a 


table  beside  the  casement  window  next  the 
wall  and  all  was  ready. 

Just  as  the  sun  reached  the  spot  over  the 
palace,  the  prince  burst  open  the  palace 
doors  and  rushed  out  to  the  wall.  The  offi- 
cials and  women  followed,  still  disgusted 
and  cross.  The  gateman  had  been  watch- 
ing for  the  prince,  a private  duty  imposed 
upon  himself.  He  ran  in  and  called  the 
lady,  who  slipped  on  a coat,  tied  a scarf 
over  her  head  and  threw  open  the  window. 
Pleasantly  she  greeted  her  “congregation." 
The  little  prince  made  a pretty  picture  as 
he  stood  with  hair  neatly  plaited,  his  coat  of 
pale  green  silk  and  trousers  of  soft  pink 
silk;  white  silk  gauntlets  and  embroidered 
shoes  completing  the  costume. 

Then  he  questioned.  “Lady,  tell  me  first 
what  do  you  do  at  your  'Jesus  Birthday?' 

“Oh,  we  sing,  pray  and  preach." 


“I  know  to  pray,  but  I don't  know  the 
others.  Do  some  for  me." 

Amusement  was  written  on  the  face  of 
the  missionary  but  she  tried  to  look  grave 
as  she  answered,  “I'll  do  the  best  I can. 
First  we  must  trim  the  trees." 

She  worked  busily,  placing  the  orna- 
ments and  fruit  she  had  collected.  As 
she  worked  she  spoke  to  the  prince  of 
Jesus,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  of  his  birth,  his 
love  for  all,  his  love  for  the  little  prince  of 
Korea.  Just  as  she  reached  that  place, 
she  was  shocked  to  hear  the  boy  say,  “Lady, 
you  tell  me  an  untruth,  your  Jesus  does  not 
love  me  or  he  would  have  given  me  a 'Jesus 
Birthday'  before  this.  He  may  love  the 
little  children  at  the  churches,  but  not  me; 
I'm  only  a prince  and  he  never  came  to 
my  house." 

“Ah,  little  prince,  listen,"  she  answered. 
“He  does  love  you.  He  tried  to  come  to 


you  before  but  he  comes  to  you  through 
me  today  to  tell  you  that  he  loves  you.  It 
is  true.” 

The  boy  did  not  answer  at  once.  He  was 
wondering  if  he  had  ever  heard  that  the 
gods  in  the  temples  where  he  worshipped 
loved  him!  He  didn't  believe  he  ever  had. 
The  impatient  stamp  of  some  cold  persons 
behind  him  caused  him  to  turn  and  tell  the 
whole  “guard"  to  go  in  the  house  if  they 
were  cold  and  didn't  like  his  'Jesus  Birth- 
day.' But  they  did  not  go,  they  knew  bet- 
ter. Their  heads  might  be  in  danger  if 
they  left  that  small  bdy  for  a moment. 

When  the  lady  had  finished  her  talk,  she 
said,  “Little  prince,  the  tree  is  trimmed 
and  you  must  go  and  get  warm.  Come 
back  tonight  and  I will  light  these  candles 
and  give  you  the  rest  of  the  'Jesus  Birth- 
ay. 

The  small  prince  gleefully  clapped  his 
hands  and  looking  longingly  at  the  tree. 


ran  into  the  house  while  the  lady  closed  the 
windows  with  a little  prayer  on  this  “the 
prince’s  first  Christmas  Day.” 

At  dusk  the  lady,  sitting  in  the  room  with 
the  trees,  heard  the  hurried  rush  to  the 
wall  and  the  boy's  eager  voice  calling  “Pou- 
in,  Pou-in.”  She  threw  open  the  window, 
greeted  the  lad.  With  a lighted  paper  she 
touched  the  candles  one  by  one.  The  tiny 
flames  shot  into  the  darkness  about  the 
tree,  lighting  up  her  gentle  face  and  the 
tinsel  ornaments.  A burst  of  glee  from  the 
boy  and  a “grunt”  from  the  congregation 
greeted  her.  “Good,  good,  how  pretty,"  fol- 
lowed by  a “Now,  lady,  give  me  the  rest 
of  the  birthday.” 

“Well,  then,  we  will  begin,"  said  the 
lady,  “the  pupils  of  my  school  are  in  the 
next  room  and  will  help  me  to  sing  a 'Jesus 
Birthday'  hymn.” 

At  the  close  of  the  sixth  verse,  the  boy 
ruler  clapped  his  hands,  saying  simply  and 


with  conviction,  “Lady,  that  was  a very 
good  'noise.'  Please  make  some  more.” 
Smiling,  the  lady  turned  to  the  Korean 
hymnal — "Hark!  the  Herald  Angels  sing," 
"While  Shepherds  Watched  Their  Flocks 
by  Night,"  and  then  the  chorus  paused  to 
rest. 

“Oh,  that  is  a splendid  noise,  I like  that. 
Quick,  do  some  of  the  rest  of  the  pray  and 
the  preach." 

"Oh,  prince,  you  had  the  preaching.  I 
told  the  story  of  Jesus  as  I placed  the 
things  on  the  trees  today.  That  is  all 
preaching  is.” 

“Then  I had  that  part,  did  I?"  "Yes,  you 
did."  "But  I didn’t  have  the  pray  part. 
Don’t  you  want  to  give  me  that?  Please 
I want  the  pray."  The  soul  of  the  mission- 
ary took  on  new  life. 

"Surely  I want  to  pray  but  listen,  little 
prince,  our  praying  is  talking  to  Jesus  and 


he  will  not  he  happy  if  we  are  not  reverent 
as  you  are  to  the  gods.  We  always  bow 
our  heads.” 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  The  boy 
hastily  turned  to  his  assistants.  “Here, 
you  people,  bow  your  heads  there,  quick.” 
Turning,  he  placed  his  head  in  his  gloved 
hands.  She  dropped  on  her  knees  and 
poured  out  her  heart  to  God  in  a fervent 
prayer  that  the  child  could  understand.  The 
prayer  ended,  heads  raised,  the  officials' 
faces  had  taken  on  an  awe-struck  look. 
What  had  they  done,  prayed  to  the  Christian 
God?  “Ei-go,  ei-go,  now  what  would  hap- 
pen?" “Please,  lady,  some  more  of  the 
good  noise." 

“Our  Savior  in  Judea  Born,"  "God's  Best 
Gift,"  with  “Joy  to  the  World,  the  Lord  has 
Come,"  followed  each  other,  to  the  delight 
of  the  small  boy,  who  clapped  his  hands  and 
exclaimed  in  delight.  At  the  last  verse  of 


the  last  mentioned  hymn  the  lady  smiled 
and  said:  “That  is  all  the  'Jesus  Birthday' 
hymns  in  the  book.  You  have  had  them  all.” 

To  her  surprise  the  boy  said:  “I  don't 

think  that  is  right  Pou-in,  you  didn't  sing  it 
all.”  “Oh,  but  we  did,”  answered  the  lady. 
Still  the  little  face  was  clouded.  “But 
lady,  the  first  time  you  made  the  good  noise 
you  went  around  that  noise  six  times  but 
now  you  have  only  gone  around  this  last 
'noise'  four  times.  Where  are  the  other 
two  times?” 

Bright  boy,  this  lad  of  Korea.  The  first 
hymn  had  six  verses,  the  last  one  but  four. 
Explanations  were  cumbersome,  so  the  lady 
meekly  sang  the  last  two  verses  of  the  last 
hymn  over  again  and  the  little  prince  gave 
a satisfied  sigh.  He  had  had  it  all. 

The  candles  were  burning  dangerously 
low,  so  the  lady  blew  them  out  as  she 
asked,  “Have  you  enjoyed  your  'Jesus 


Birthday,'  Little  Prince?  I think  it  is  all 
over  now." 

"Oh,  I have,  I did  like  it  all.  I wish  a 
little  prince  of  Korea  could  have  a 'Jesus 
Birthday"  every  year.  But  did  you  say  it 
was  all  over?  Is  there  no  more,  lady?” 

The  lady,  puzzled,  answere  d,  “Why,  I 
can  think  of  no  more." 

A short  silence  and  then  the  boy  spoke, 
“Lady,  I heard  it  said  that  in  your 
churches,  when  you  had  a 'Jesus  Birthday' 
you  give  the  little  boys  presents  and  I 
didn’t  get  one.  Can’t  a prince  have  a pres- 
ent too?" 

He  was  a prince,  but  the  boy  nature  came 
out  in  the  last  remark.  He  wanted  his 
present. 

The  poor,  bewildered  missionary  said: 
“Oh,  little  prince,  I would  like  so  much  to 
give  you  a present.  We  do  give  presents 


to  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  churches  but 
I have  none  that  will  do  for  a little  prince. 
You  don’t  want  these  oranges  and  per- 
simmons like  the  little  children  in  the 
churches  ?” 

“Pshaw,  no!  Got  lots  of  that  stuff  in 
this  house.” 

“Yes  but  you  see  there  is  nothing  else, 
and  I am  sorry.  Another  time  I will  try 
to  see  that  you,  too,  have  a present.” 

The  disappointed  face  was  raised  once  to 
hers.  “But,  lady,  I never  had  any  of  that 
pretty,  shiny  fruit  on  the  tree. 

Quickly  the  lady  removed  the  tinsel  orna- 
ments and  handed  the  shiny  “fruit”  of 
those  two  wonderful  Christmas  trees  to  the 
young  monarch.  Gravely  turning,  he  care- 
fully passed  them  one  by  one  to  the  wait- 
ing attendants,  saying:  “Don’t  drop  these. 
If  you  do  you  will  have  to  answer  to  me.” 


Then  with  satisfaction,  “They  are  my 'Jesus 
Birthday'  presents.''  But  still  he  lingered. 
“Lady,  I am  sorry  to  bother  you,  but  could 
you  give  the  little  prince  one  of  the  books 
you  made  the  good  'noise'  out  of?” 

With  a glad  throb  of  joy  the  missionary 
handed  him  her  Korean  hymnal.  Thank- 
ing her  over  and  over  again  he  turned  to 
her  with  the  book  clasped  tightly  in  his 
hands.  With  a last  lingering  look  at  what 
had  been  the  Christmas  tree,  he  saluted 
her  in  a courteous  fashion  and  entered  the 
palace.  His  attendants  followed,  each  one 
carefully  holding  in  his  hands  the  precious 
fruit  of  the  Christmas  tree. 

The  tired  worker  went  to  her  room  but 
while  preparing  for  her  well-earned  rest, 
she  heard  a frightful  noise  coming  from 
within  the  palace.  Hastily  she  slipped  on  her 
outer  garments.  She  passed  around  the  wall. 


found  a convenient  box,  and  mounting  it 
looked  over  the  wall  into  the  brilliantly 
lighted  room  from  which  the  noise  came. 
She  caw  a little  prince,  whose  mother  had 
a habit  of  spanking  him  when  he  didn't 
please  the  maternal  mind.  Her  heart 
ached  because  she  had  been  the  cause 
of  it,  but  to  her  great  joy  she  saw  her  fears 
were  groundless.  She  could  just  see  into 
the  room  and  looked  upon  three  men,  the 
larger  of  whom  had  clasped  tightly  in  his 
hands  the  previous  Korean  by  mnal  and 
three  women  hovering  around  trying  to 
see  as  well,  while  before  the  six  stood  a 
glowing,  eager  little  boy  with  hand  upraised 
as  if  beating  time.  Still  as  she  looked  the 
little  voice  was  raised  shrilly  suggestive: 
“I  tell  you  the  good  noise  is  in  the  book. 
You  must  get  it  out.  Didn't  I hear  the 
lady  get  it  out?  The  'Noise'  you  are  getting 
out  is  a very  bad  'noise.'  Now  do  it  again, 
and  get  the  good  'noise'  out  or  you  will 


see  what  will  happen.”  And  six  scared 
perspiring  faces  once  more  bent  over  the 
book. 

The  lady  returning  to  her  own  room, 
dropped  on  her  knees  her  heart  leaping  for 
joy,  keeping  time  to  the  one  strain,  "Joy 
to  the  World,  the  Lord  Has  Come!"  sung 
in  six  different  tunes.  It  was  the  sweetest 
music  she  had  ever  heard  and  her  last 
thought  was — “Oh,  my  Father,  I thank 
Thee,  that  Thou  has  let  me  be  a missionary 
to  Korea." 


The  Woman's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


Price  Ten  Cents 


